I’m obsessed with retro pop culture. My childhood was spent devouring all the music, TV, and cinema I could get.

Entertainment was finite, unlike today, where it feels infinite. There was no Netflix. No social media. No Spotify. You put in time and effort (hours/days in line for tickets!) to find entertainment, so you placed high value on it. It became a big part of your life, and it had the power to help shape the person you would become.

As I grew, my love of being entertained morphed into a desire to be the entertainer. I played trumpet in school, and later developed singing skills. I am currently active in chorus, and both musical and dramatic theater. Performance is my drug.

In the never-ending quest to get my fix, a couple years ago, I started a “regular” DJ company. I worked a lot of “regular” DJ gigs; mostly weddings, but also karaoke, private parties, and public dances.

I found it part fun, part stress. Something didn’t feel quite right, and after a lot of self reflection, I figured it out: I simply don’t get excited for newer music the way I do for retro music, and trying to deliver a top-notch performance while playing music that didn’t really blow my skirt up was difficult. As a DJ, the best performances come when you love the music you are playing, and you know every note, lyric, phrase, rhythm, key change, etc. Mixing, microphone work, body language, song selection — all of these things must HIT to be a great DJ, and love for the music is the foundation.